Our client in the telecommunications sector is recruiting for the position of Systems Architect. As part of the Architecture Team you will be responsible for establishing a reference architecture for deployment of mobile money solutions working closely with the Commercial Team to understand business drivers. You will also work with the Group Technology, Security and Operations teams to ensure alignment with company standards and policies. You will propose new architecture using approved design patterns or working to agree on architectural approaches with multiple parties for new business propositions.
The agile SAFe Framework has been adopted across the company and in line with the framework you will require a systems-thinking mindset that supports the continuous flow of value through the Continuous Delivery Pipeline enabling and fostering a DevOps culture. Working closely with Agile Teams, you will help implement enablers that define, explore and evolve solutions. You will help plan and develop the Architectural Runway in support of new business Features and Capabilities by actively participating in Program Increment (PI) planning, System Demos and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events. You will have an overarching appreciation for Agile Architecture in SAFe promoting a set of values, practices and collaborations that support the active, evolutionary design and architecture of the company’s systems.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Defining a set of purposeful architectural strategies and initiatives which enhance solution design, performance and usability as part of Intentional Architecture Design and Emergent Design
- Providing guidance for inter-team design and synchronising architectural implementation activities of systems
- Designing architecture that enables testability, deployability and releasability
- Providing the technical basis for a fully evolutionary and incremental implementation approach, helping developers and designers respond to immediate user needs, allowing the architectural design to evolve
- Ensuring solutions are architected for continuous deployment and delivery by decoupling deployments from releases as part of Architecting for DevOps and Release on Demand
- Defining a Minimum Viable (“just enough”) Architecture supporting the creation and evolution of systems and system interfaces
- Fostering architecture as code through common naming conventions, attributes and annotations
- Building quality in by automating architectural compliance checks
- Promoting and building trust in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline for Agile Release Trains to independently explore and test ideas in a true production environment
- Collaborating with Solution Architects to ensure discrete solutions created by ARTs and Suppliers fit into and support the larger capabilities of the overall solution as part of Support Alignment
- Participating in backlog refinement and prioritisation sessions
- Defining enabler capabilities and NFRs
- Participating in regular Architect Sync sessions to ensure consistency in emerging designs and managing trade-offs across all ARTs and Shared Service teams
- Participating in Pre- and Post-PI Planning to work with relevant stakeholders and define the architectural approach and high-level objectives for the upcoming PI planning
- Participating in regular System Demo sessions to demonstrate new implemented approaches and assessing fitness for purpose
- Collaborating with Product Managers and the Release Train Engineer to assess releasability of elements of the solution in line with the Release Strategy
- Actively working with Agile Teams to ensure that emergent design choices minimise technology complexity and avoid unnecessary duplication of capabilities
Minimum Requirements:
- Computer Science, Science or Engineering-related Degree
- Certification in Solution Architecture, TOGAF, Cloud expertise is desired
- At least 10+ experience in systems architecture, systems design and development
- Experience designing large, complex business-critical infrastructure and systems
- Experience in the design and architecture of cloud services and cloud computing
- Domain experience in financial services and fintech will be an advantage
- Experience mentoring Developers and other Architects in architecture principles
- Strong business acumen and leadership mindset with the ability to influence others
- Demonstrable knowledge and experience in both Agile and Waterfall methodologies